Over the next few weeks, we’re going to introduce you to Greg Davis’ new channel team across the globe. We’re starting off our Channel DNA series with Iqbal Marican, Director, Channel/VAR Programs & Strategy.
A brief bio on Iqbal
Iqbal has joined Dell as of January 14th and is based in Singapore and responsible for our Asia Pacific region. His role includes defining and directing our Channel & go-to-market strategy, Channel Partner Program, support acquisition & nurturing channel partners for sustained long-term growth as well as co-owning.
Iqbal joined Dell from Cisco Systems where he spent nine years in key management positions. His most recent role was General Manager for Distribution, Cisco Systems Asia Pacific, and had responsibilities for Channel Distribution as well as Commercial Channel Resellers. During his tenure, Iqbal led the growth of Cisco Systems distribution business in excess of 30 percent. Prior to Cisco Systems, Iqbal held key leadership positions in multinationals like Compaq, Unisys, Ashton-Tate and Wang Computers.
Q&A
Q: What excited you about the opportunity to work for Dell and join the PartnerDirect team? Beyond the responsibilities in your bio, can you share any further insights into your role and the impact on the APJ program and partner relationships?
>> Dell has the unique ability to bring value to its relationships. Be it with end-users or with its channel partners. This stems from Dell’s proven capability to add value in high impact areas while removing cost and complexity across all of IT. Add to that the desire to excel through channel relationships, and you have a very compelling value proposition- one that’d transform channel relationships across the industry. It is indeed exciting to drive, and, be a part of this transformation.
Keeping the channel partner at the centre of it all, we built out teams and infrastructure to create a program that’s truly simple, efficient and transparent. In short span of less than a year we have signed up thousands of partners and are meeting or execeeding our revenue expectations in APJ . This gives us the confidence that we are doing the right things. Specially in making sure that the Dell’s interests in Direct business do not conflict with the interests of our channel partners.
Q: You have been in the channel for some time, what advantages do you see in the PartnerDirect program especially in Asia? How can we continue to improve our program offerings to the region and what does the future look like?
>> PartnerDirect Program’s unique value proposition lies in simplification. Our focus is to simplify pricing, rebates, ordering, supply chain and support/services. Each one of these elements is critical to the success of our partners. If delivered well they become a competitive advantage and conversely, if not delivered well become either a cost disadvantage or a complete show stopper for our partners.
Individual markets in Asia have unique requirements in terms of enabling the ‘critical few’ elements I mentioned above. Keeping focused on the local requirements and making sure that all improvements are towards further simplifying and improving the efficiency is key to our success.
Looking to the future, we’ll be driving deeper relationships with our partners across all segments that Dell is aligning across. We believe that significant opportunities lie in the area of solution implementation. Dell’s product and services portfolio, while amongst the broadest and best in the industry, is truly complementary to the capabilities of SI’s and VAR’s. By delivering a value chain that enables these partners to implement customized solutions faster and at a lower cost, we’ll continue to drive the success of PartnerDirect program.
As the economic challenges come to bear, two things are becoming very clear. One, channel partners need a vendor who will help their customers manage cost. Second, channel partners are looking at a trustworthy vendor who can help them manage their own cost of doing business. These are times when keeping things simple will have a real advantage and, I believe, Dell is the vendor who does this best.
Q: Building a program from the ground up is no easy task, how do you plan to incorporate partner feedback into your everyday role? If partners have feedback, can they talk to you directly?
Listening has been and will always be the critical to how we design, implement or run our business. While we have structured means to seek feedback from our partners, nothing beats the ability to get to hear views directly. I invite partners to write to me at Iqbal_marican@dell.com
Q: Any final comments or asks of our Partners?
We are working on developing success stories around PartnerDirect. These stories are to encapsulate the business issues that were addressed successfully and helped partners drive better value to their customers. We invite partners to be a part of this process. If you have an experience you’d like to share please email me or our channels marketing director at Ashwini_bhatnagar@dell.com